


Human

by Syri



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Gen, Moderate Violence, Sexual Assault, mentions of sexism racism and slavery, not from Clow this time I swear I'm a better person than that, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-01-03 23:11:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syri/pseuds/Syri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clow Reed finds himself stuck hosting a yearly party for the local magical community, which is a sour enough experience by itself. It's more difficult though for year-old Yue, meeting other sorcerers for the first time, as well as their own magical constructs. Not all beings are made like him, nor treated as kindly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to explore my ideas of Yue’s self perception further, and branch out into an idea or two I’d never considered. A genderless pair of Guardians is not something that has ever been my headcanon, really, but I wanted to play around with a new, self-challenging idea.

)o(  
“I told you this would happen.”

“Yes Kerberos, you’ve been scolding me all day.”

“No, I’ve been scolding you since LAST YEAR, but you haven’t listened to me! Great and Powerful Clow Reed, best sorcerer ever, won’t listen to the being he made to be his companion and advisor and STOP HIM FROM MAKING STUPID MISTAKES!”

Clow removed his glasses to polish Kero’s spit off of their lenses, and sighed deeply. “I know Kerberos, I know. But you don’t understand; there is a rigid form of social obligation among the magical community. It’s not like snubbing some new-money noble’s summer cotillion. Piss off the wrong sorcerers and you’ll find all your teeth in the sink the next day.”

Kero swished his tail, smirking. “At least they all grew back nicely,” he commented cheerfully, and Clow sneered with a shudder at his companion. Well, one of them; the other had just emerged from the kitchen with the last tray for their supper. 

“Mmm, looks wonderful, Yue,” Clow smiled kindly, grateful for a nice sensory distraction from his worries, which Yue was quick to pick up on. He moved about deftly to set out the servings, filling his Master’s cup first, of course, then his brothers and finally his own, and offering Clow’s plate before Kero’s. 

“Thank you, Master,” Yue replied in a soft tone, finally seating himself to Clow’s left; they always sat like this. Clow at the end of the table, and one Guardian around each table bend. “But what is it in that letter that has you so distressed?”

Clow drained his teacup in one gulp back, as though wishing it were filled with wine instead. Which Yue would be sure to offer him after supper. He took a few quick bites from his plate, and unfurled the letter with a disgruntled flourish. It still smelled heavily of the incense smoke that had carried it to the Reed household from another wizards’ home.

“Dearest Mr. Reed,” Clow began, and Yue pressed his lips together to not chuckle at the over pompous lilt to Clow’s voice. “Dearest Mr. Reed. The Duncan Household writes to inform you that they will be arriving at promptly 1 o’clock on Friday, August the 3rd. We grandly look forward to this year’s gathering, and to again make the pleasure of seeing one Mr. Kerberos. Warmest regards, Oswald Duncan.”

Though Kero looked giddy at being addresses in such a sophisticated manner, Yue was simply perplexed. He finished his bite of bread and butter, before politely enquiring, “Who is Mr. Oswald Duncan?”

“An overeager kiss-ass,” Clow groused, stuffing the letter back into its somewhat singed envelope without evenin trying to appear polite. “A barely-there witch of completely mediocre skill who thinks if he butters me up enough I’ll take him as an apprentice.”

“Sounds lovely,” Yue scoffed, immediately disliking anyone his Master seemed to dislike so much. “But what’s this Gathering he’s talking about?”

“We’re hosting a party!” Kerberos snickered with a taunting look at Clow. “One Clow forgot he offered to throw laaast year!”  
Still confused, the younger Guardian looked to Clow for a better answer.

“Every year,” he began with the tone that he meant many, many LONG years, “The magical community likes to get together like a bunch of peacocks to preen and prance and show off whatever spells they’ve concocted the last year.”

“Last year some lady with blue hair filled the backyard with fluttering little moths made out of spun sugar!” Kero added, his eyes alight with the memory of a game of chase rewarded with sweet, melting bites. “She gonna be back this year?”

Clow refilled his own tea cup, and rubbed a sore spot on his temple. “Oh I’m sure she will be,” he breathed. “Anyhow, Yue, thing is, I volunteered to play host last year, knowing I would still be in the London area, and then with all that’s been going on the last year, with the move, and that whole ordeal with that Frenchman…and you joining us, of course,” he added with a warm smile that crinkled up his blue eyes and made Yue grin ear to ear. “I just sort of…forgot all about it. So now I have but 3 days to throw together an entire party!”

“We’ll help,” Yue said simply, and Kerberos nodded.

“Yeah; Sweet can help Yue in the kitchen, and you know Flower and Glow will want to bedeck the entire house in Fairy Lights.”

Yue agreed emphatically. “And Move can help arrange the furniture out of the way.”

They both saw the stress began to melt slowly from their Maker’s shoulders, as he looked between the two of his Guardians. “You’d really help an old man out of a bind?” he chuckled kindly, and Kero scoffed from the back of his throat.

“And what’s the alternative? Watching you drink a jug of bourbon while trying to throw together something decent in 72 hours? Feh! With my brainpower and Yue’s ability to actually open thing, we’ll have something decent put together. Besides, you’re more powerful than anyone ELSE who’s gonna be there, so what have you got to prove? That you can bend the forces of nature, harness sun AND moon, and still find the time to bake a nice tart?”

“…Moon,” Clow sighed, and returned back to rubbing at his brow as though in pain. “No one knows about Yue yet.”

“I’ll try my best to make a good impression,” Yue said simply, raising himself a little higher, and pulling his hair haughtily over his shoulders. Though not exactly vain, Yue was prideful as anything, and seemed sure that he would bring no shame to his Master in front of their company.

“I’m sure you will,” Clow said kindly, but flicked his eyes over to meet Kerberos’s as Yue rose to clear the table.

“…you know it wouldn’t make any difference if they knew or not,” Kero huffed once Yue was out of the room, and Clow’s hand moved down to his neck to work out a knot of tension.

“I know. They’d all be just as curious, and just as prodding and rude.” He glanced to the door often, not wanting Yue to hear; not yet. “You know how many sorcerers are about humanoid creations.”

“Humanoid,” Kero chuckled childishly at his favorite word. “Makes Yue sound like some kind of textile machine…but I know, Clow…I remember the ones I met last year,” he finished with a slight shudder, and Clow felt the same chill.

His Yue was beautiful, graceful, poised and articulate. And also completely human in heart, which marked him as something completely unique among the dolls and servants of other magicians. Most sorcerers of any respectable caliber would fashion themselves a magical pet at the very least, gaudily pretty birds that could sing to them, or small dogs in the most luxurious and pet-able fur. A more skilled witch or warlock could make themselves something smart, or of human form, but it was unheard of before Clow Reed for a magical construct to be completely free thinking, emotive, and…equal. Even if Yue detested being called an equal to his Master, and his moon nature naturally willed him to a personality of joyful submission to Clow, in intellect and reasoning and compassion, he was human. Really, Kerberos was as well, even if his body was leonine. He could feel and think and WANT just as deeply as his bipedal companions.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t a marvel in his own right; almost 2 years since his creation and he was STILL the marvel of the magical world. Reed did it, they all still whispered about themselves. Made a being with free will, that can think, argue with its maker. With a personality it grew itself, not one pre-set for a doll. And if he were to be completely honest, Clow would have to admit that Kero, as Sun, could be said to outdo his newest construct. Yue was a dependent being, and needed to be near Clow, needed his magic to survive, whereas Kero could supplement himself rather easily. With Yang as his attribute, he would also likely be a more fierce and brutal warrior with his powers, where Yue, as Yin, would display his impressive strength is more constructed ways. Kero was a Primary being, while Yue’s very nature was to be complimentary (even if his personality was often infuriatingly contrary, even to the Master he served so willingly). Clow saw them not as unequal, for they could not exist if not perfectly balanced. Only different.

Unfortunately, some of his peers would notice only the one difference.

Forming a human body was not altogether so difficult. Many esteemed magicians had accomplished it; indeed, again, it was the heart and mind of a human that was so difficult…and it was why Clow was becoming more and more worried about presenting Yue to the others. Dolls, pets, pretty toys; that’s what a human creation was to most. They were not sentient after all, not many of them…not ones created for certain purposes. A servant may be mildly aware, but have no true feelings beyond what they were intended to feel. But Yue was none of those things. How many of the sorcerers attending this weekend would be able to look upon a created being and see something more than a beautiful object?

Yue was not entirely naive, but he wasn’t yet a year old, and his contact with other magicians was very limited, as Clow himself kept to only a small group of associates. As powerful as he was, many people sought his friendship only for their own benefit, and he thus preferred the company of his beings. Fondly, he smiled over towards Kerberos, and laid a hand on his warm, thick fur, just behind his ears.

“I’ll take Yue aside later to warn him. You’ll help me keep an eye on him on Saturday, won’t you?”

Kero grumbled something about hating being a built in baby sitter, but Clow could tell his heart wasn’t in the argument.

“…You don’t think anyone there would hurt him though,” Kero supplied quietly, and Clow could only chew the inside of his lip nervously. 

“No one who would wish to harm him, no. But many who won’t understand.”

)o(

The days leading up to the large party were busy, and crowded, the large manor brimming with Cards and Guardians all trying to not trod on one another’s toes or tails or hair. Jump and Twin bounded through the halls to festoon garlands of Flower’s creations from the ceiling, Glow following behind to alight soft glittering lamps behind the delicate blossoms. In the kitchen, Yue was bickering non-stop with Firey. Clow couldn’t help but hover around the door and listen in on their arguments and curses. Firey was a petulant thing, arrogant and temperamental, VERY much like Yue, but was a card under Kerberos’s jurisdiction, and thus saw Yue as no higher than he. Most Sun cards would respect the Moon Guardian, as the Moon ruled cards did Kerberos, but it wasn’t the same affection nor purpose. And with Firey and Yue, it was a bare minimum cooperation, with Firey taking Yue’s orders to an extreme literal just to be difficult. 

“Don’t make me send for Watery!” Yue threatened, as he rushed to gather the end of his braid over his arm before his older brother could set it alight. The kitchen filled with the deep, bell-like laughter of the elemental card, as Clow stifled his own. A blessed man with 54 children, only a quarter of whom had any desire to cause physical harm! 

“Firey, I’m your Guardian as much as Kerberos and I’m only following Master Clow’s orders!” Yue shouted with all the authority he could muster while still dancing around barefoot in the kitchen. “I may be the Moon but you still have to mind me; no, I don’t CARE that you’re older, that doesn’t matter!”

Clow shut the door as silently as possible, leaving Yue the time he needed to finish begging Firey to cooperate. Truthfully, Clow would like to stay longer. The distraction would be welcome, but he had too much work to do. It was dawn, and their company would begin arriving in 6 hours. While the party wasn’t until tonight, many of the further away guests would choose to arrive early and stay the entire night. Which seemed completely in ill taste to Clow, for a group or could travel so easily by magical means; it’s not like they would have horses to rest or a long ride home! But it was an example of mortal customs and culture leaking over to their own. It was good manners, it was said, to house your guests.

Well Clow wished he wasn’t one for good manners. There would be over 50 Sorcerers, mages and witches crowded into his house come Saturday, at least 20 of which would be overnight guests, and he wasn’t looking forward to serving all of them their meals. Of course, Yue was the one who took care of most of their cooking, but he couldn’t’ handle that on his own! God, he wondered if he’d ordered enough wine…

)o(

“OW! Clow, that HURTS,” Yue bit petulantly, unusually nasty in tone towards his Master, and Clow tried to apologize around the hairbrush in his mouth.

“I’m sho…shawwy, Yeuh-eh!” He grumbled, finally dropping the brush into his lap. “I’m sorry, I’m trying not to pull, but your hair’s very fine and wants to fall.”

“Well you made it,” he sulked, wincing again. It was only an hour before Mr. Oswald Duncan was expected to arrive, along with God knows who else throughout the day, and Clow was trying to get his Guardians presentable. Kero groused at being made to bathe, yet still pranced about the room in freshly polished armor and groomed claws like he was royalty. He was easy enough to groom, but yue was a more difficult matter. He had to be scrubbed, washed, and worst of all, brushed and SOMETHING done with his hair. He usually wore it loose, or tied back just enough to be practical, but with so many people running about, the last thing Clow needed was someone to step on the more than three feet of Yue’s pale hair that trailed on the floor. Unfortunately, it was not an easy task.

“Just hold still a while longer Yue, please,” he begged. He pulled another long chunk away from the rest, passing it deftly to Kero to finish pulling it out. If he didn’t do this to each weave, the bottom of Yue’s hair would braid up just as quickly as the top.

“Can’t I just double it up and tie it at my neck? Yue begged, and Clow tapped him once on the shoulder as a warning to hush. Yue obeyed instantly, but not happily. He loved having Clow brush his hair for him, but as one who did nothing with his own dark locks but tie them lazily at his shoulder, his fingers were not gentle nor dexterous enough to try the elaborate knots and braids he thought would suit Yue. A thick, tight cord of braiding framed Yue’s face on either side, to be tied together at the nape of his neck with the remaining tumble wrapped around the bottom of the joined braid over and over, finally clipped into place with the ends now brushing the back of Yue’s thighs.

“There,” Clow sighed with tired relief. “Don’t you look lovely!”

“He looks like a girl,” Kero teased from his spot beside Clow, earning him Yue’s most sour scowl yet, aided by the ache in his scalp.

“Don't be crass," Yue snit. "If I look like a girl then I am sure I look lovely! Any other bits of misogyny you'd like to share?”

Clow rolled his eyes, wanting to hurry them along so he could finally get dressed. 

Truthfully, though an old and comfortable argument, it was an equal and more or less victim-less teasing; neither Kerberos nor Yue were human. They lived, for the most part, outside of societies staunch expectations for how one ought to behave based on their physical bodies. Besides that, with Yue's effeminate, soft beauty, it could often take a guest a good while to deduce whether to address Yue a sir or miss, and frankly it entertained his guardians to no end. Still, most beings with enough self awareness did choose one or the other to identify with, for simplicities sake, or were born with an internal gender of sorts. Which it was for his boys, he could not be sure, but considering how quickly they took to male mannerisms and ways of behavior and referring to themselves as “he”, it may well had been inborn into the both of them. Not that it mattered much; his children weren’t human, after all. And yet, they were somethign so very, very close.  
He just hoped some of his less favorable guests would remember that. He still needed to speak to Yue about what to expect with all this company. The young Guardian had met others; Clow’s colleagues, a few dear friends, but the company Clow kept were not quite as…exotic and blended as their boarders would be. With magicians coming from across most of Western Europe or further, there would be men and women from branches of magic Clow had barely explored. Magic was nearly a culture and community unto itself, but how it was wielded changed remarkably from one bloodline to the next, as did beliefs and attitudes. Not all of which Clow Reed found favorable. 

His chat would need to wait just a little longer though; Clow found himself staring at a clock half till 1 and was still in only an open shirt and trousers. Giving Yue’s hair a final tuck, he bade the young man to finish dressing as he left to do the same. 

“Master Clow seems anxious about the party,” Yue remarked to his brother, still rather sour. He peered into the mirror as he poked delicately into the heavily overlapping folds of silver hair, wincing at his tender scalp. “I think we’ve done plenty to help, don’t you Kerberos? Is there more to be done?”

Kero shook his head, and even Yue had to admire how his newly brushed fur gleamed in the warm afternoon sunlight.  
“Naaw. Clow’s just strung out causea’ how many people are gonna be here,” he assured his twin. “Clow’s social as anything, but hosting a get-together of this size, there’s a lot of eyes there to judge you.”

“But you said Master Clow is more powerful than any other witch…” Yue’s tone was growing doubtful as he slipped a long white linen wrap around his waist. Tying it securely with a braided cord, he looked up; “That’s right, isn’t it?”

Kero almost barked with laughter; “Course he is! Every sorcerer in the world knows that, even if they don’t wanna admit it! But that doesn’t mean they aren’t gonna look for reasons to snub him. A lotta folk don’t like that he mixes his spells around, East and West. They think it muddles down a spells potency, dirties it somehow.”

“There are many who believe such a thing about people,” Yue pointed out as he slipped a dusty lilac hanfu over his white underclothes. “Yet Master Clow has a mixed lineage.”  
“And you’ll be seeing a fair few people making jabs about that too.”

Yue’s face darkened as he set his jaw firmly. Kero didn’t need to say anything, and just nodded to show he felt the same way. Neither of them would tolerate anyone saying something truly cruel or degrading against the man who had given them life. Sure, yes, Kerberos would lament his lame luck for hours, being the Guardian of such a whimsical and impulsive magician, with no real sense to him at all, but that was a right he alone had, and would lend only to Clow’s oldest friends. Besides, it was all in jest, about Clow’s actual flaws, and fell well within the bounds of Kero’s responsibilities as Guardian Beast. So said Kero. But the way he knew some people spat at Clow’s mixed blood? He couldn’t stand that. He remembered last year’s party, and all the vulgar words he had to later ask Clow for a definition of, only to see the flicker of pain across the magicians face. 

To make matters worse, that had been last year, before Yue. Clow always assured Kero he was a grown man and use to just unkind hissing and gossip, and it was true that such senseless bigotry wasn’t as common within magical circles as it was human…but it was there. And Yue had never met any of those who exuded it. Yue wasn’t human, but he was fashioned to be a perfect image of a man, and Kero knew with his small frame and almond eyes, he would look far too foreign for the tastes of some guests. That was just the start of tonight’s issues even! HE had to keep Clow from getting drunk, keep Yue out of trouble, keep the Cards form getting overexcited, AND find time to eat within all that!

“Well I for one won’t let anyone take an uncultured bite to Master Clow!” Yue threatened, and Kero had to smirk, almost HOPING someone would be daft enough to speak ill of Clow within Yue’s earshot. Though thin and none too tall, Kero knew Yue could physically take down any man at tonight’s party, even without the aid of his magic. He was wirey, with a form built for flight, archery, and agile strength. Any idiot with a quick mouth would find themselves on the floor before they could even realize Reed’s pretty boy was within reach. On the same token, though, Yue was also a temperamental thing and might pounce before thinking if Master’s pride was being threatened.

“Well I’m with you there, Yue, but when it comes to words, we oughta let Clow fight his own battles. God know they won’t ALL be false accusations.”

Yue frowned slightly. He wrapped another thin cord around his waist to keep his robe in place, before winding a thicker, ornate band atop that. He disliked when Kero became overindulgent in his teasing. He knew as well as his older brother that Master Clow had a…peculiar personality, and it had gotten him in trouble more than once, but that was long before Yue was born. Most of it at least. They could tease Clow about his whimsical compulsions or love for wine, but seeing strangers follow suit, without knowing their intent? That didn’t settle very well for the moon guardian.

A warm, soft weight landed at his hip, and Yue looked down to see Kerberos nuzzling. 

“Smile, little brother. Clow’s gonna be fine. There’s gonna be a lot of hot heads in our house soon, but most of them are just stuffy old magicians who can make a few pretty sparks. They’re just jealous of Clow.”

Yue smirked, and brushed his thin fingers through the dense fur at Kerberos’s neck. “Alright,” he relented with a prideful set to his shoulders. “But that still doesn’t mean I won’t shoot someone who deserves it.”

“Sonofabitch!”

The siblings bristled, both racing to Yue’s door to peer out. In the hall paced a barely-together Clow, struggling to slip into a pair of polished shoes while still walking. His long black hair fell loose past his shoulders.

“They’re here already!” he hissed to his boys, looking positively despondent. “They’re here and we’re not ready and I haven’t even gotten to speak to Yu…you look very lovely, Yue.”

Yue bowed his head in respectful thanks, before scurrying to Clow’s side. Trying to hop in time with Clow’s staggering, he gathered his Master’s hair into a very neat tail at the back of his neck; a smooth, lazy drawl of his fingertips formed a scarlet velvet ribbon to secure it. 

“…Red, Yue?” Clow sighed, catching the firey color form the corner of his eye. “I’m a blue person.”

Yue shook his head. “Red is more powerful.”  
“Fine, fine, Yes,” Clow groused, finally getting the buckles on his shoes done up. He was cussing under his breathe the entire way down the hall and stairs, his two guardians following at his heels and exchanging glances. Worry from Yue, and ‘here we go again’ from Kerberos.

“God damned bastards, fifteen minutes early as always. Kero, be as charming as possible, they loved you last year.”

“Everyone loved me last year,” he corrected, his long tail swishing back and forth proud as anything. 

“And Yue, you…well everyone’s going to be very…they’re going to be interested in…Ooooswald, it’s been such a long time!”

Yue had to marvel at how quickly Clow could change masks. The very moment they turned the corner into the front parlor, his pinched, grumpy face had lit up, exuding a perfect façade of confidence and cheer. He came forward to shake hands firmly with a tall man with thick sideburns and a fashionable but tattered waistcoat. However, behind the welcoming grin and smiling eyes, Yue and Kero could easily sense his unease, and it wasn’t hard to find its source; their parlor was packed with magicians. Without even looking, Yue could sense his brother bristling, and knew his fur would be rising along his spine. Quietly, he reached a hand towards him, stroking his fingers against Kero’s cheek, and rubbed back once in return against Yue’s wrist.

“I uh…see you’ve brought friends!” Clow forced himself to laugh as he surveyed the score of witches and warlocks that packed into his home.

Oswald Duncan had an unexpectedly pleasant voice and a satisfying laugh. “I figured I’d pick up a few on the way!” he answered, clapping Reed once on the shoulder. “You know travelling spells are easier with help!”

“That is true, yes,” Clow chuckled; Yue instinctively took the smallest step towards his maker, wanting to offer the support of his closeness, even if he currently couldn’t find his voice to speak.

“Ah, Kerberos!” A witch from near the back of the group bustled forward, a long magenta gown trailing behind her in rippling folds.

“Mildred!” Kero greeted eagerly, and Yue could only guess this woman was the witch who made little creatures out of sugar for his brother’s amusement; he didn’t show this sort of excitement for anyone who didn’t have offerings for his belly! He was always snuggly and loving to Yue when he was in the kitchen making Sunday dinner. Their little reunion seemed to break the ice though, as bubbles of laughter and chat began to float around the room as old friends embraced, shook hands, and began to catch up.

“What a beautiful home you have here, Reed!” Mr. Oswald Duncan gushed, looking around the beautiful parlor. Yue was inclined to agree; their home was a grand estate, with tall, vaulted ceilings and open lofts to the second floor. Ideal for a family with so many members bedecked with wings, and practical, but simply a sign of great wealth to outsiders. Which Clow was also in possession of, it was true.

Clow bowed his head. “Thank you. We’ve only just moved here about a year ago. I wanted something a little more out of the way-“

“Well you certainly have it!” Oswald chuckled in a booming voice. “Wasn’t easy to scry for this place! How many wards do you have placed around it?”

“Enough,” Clow replied evenly, and Yue noticed it was his Masters turn to approach him slightly, barely a shuffle. “I prefer my privacy, and with the magic I work, the last thing I need are Londoners snooping around my property.”

Oswald nodded seriously. “Of course of cou- And who is this?”

Kerberos and Yue could both feel the swirl of emotions alight in their chest, but it was Yue, moreso, who could feel the tension in Clow’s back. Reluctance, pride, love. Those were the most obvious…

Yue met Clow’s eyes, and watched his Master’s face soften a little as he gestured him forward. As he began to walk, he watched Clow make an odd movement, shrugging his should up and down quickly.

“Wings,” he mouthed silently, and while Yue didn’t completely understand Clow’s wish, he did as he was asked. He unfurled his silver wings as he walked forward, and kept them folded demurely to his back. The longest feathers tickled his ankles, soft ones brushing against his shoulders and neck. He understood Clow’s request as soon as the approving murmur bubbled over the small crowd, and he raised his head up proudly. Clow wanted to show him off? Fine, then.

“This is Yue,” Clow introduced, and placed a warm, firm hand on Yue’s back, under his left wing; Yue tried not to bristle as he tickled the softer down near the joint. “He is my newes- my youngest creation, ten months old. He was born to be Kerberos’s twin.”

Yue bowed deeply, to show as much respect to his Master’s guests as he felt he ought. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Duncan. My master has spoken of you at length.”

This seemed to please the man, who stood, if possible, even taller, eyes glimmering with pride. He seemed to Yue to be the arrogant sort, with actually very little in his life to boast about. Perhaps overconfident would be a kinder term, then…

“Well have you now, Reed!” he boomed, and looked to each side, as though wanting to see if anyone was listening in. “Well the feeling is mutual; I speak often of your master as well. Great man he is, obviously. Just look at you! …Moon magic, Clow?” he asked, as though the question really needed to be posed. Anyone with a dollop of magical know-how would be able to read Yue’s overwhelming moon aura.

Clow’s hand rubbed Yue’s back calmly, just under his wings, as though trying to sooth, but Yue had to wonder if it was a self-calming gesture. He could feel his Master’s growing anxiety through his fingertips.

“Moon, yes, a pure construct,” Clow went on to those nearest who paid enough mind to listen. Several of their company had already began to wander on their own…Yue didn’t think that was very good etiquette, but since Clow seemed to not mind, neither did he. “He’s also a perfect balance of Yin to Kero’s Yang.”

“Ah, more of that Eastern hocus pocus then,” a magician behind Oswald remarked, and Yue felt Kero bristle just as much as he did. But their maker seemed to be finding his comfort, with his two Guardians on each side. He smiled widely, and nodded. “That’s right! A perfect tightrope balance between the two, my boys. Rather like how your parakeets are one red and one blue!”

Kerberos was barely able to disguise his peel of laughter with a cough.

“Well he’s a beautiful thing isn’t he,” Oswald continued, and while Yue at first smiled keenly at the attention, he hadn’t been expecting the man to TOUCH him. He just stepped right up in front of him, took his jaw and turned it upwards to peer into his eyes. Yue stiffened at the touch, unsure of what was the proper thing to do. Guests and visitors often preened Kero’s fur, and he welcomed the petting and the belly rubs, but Yue wasn’t sure he appreciated the breech of personal space.

“What a lovely color,” someone said over Oswald’s shoulder, a young looking witch with deep red waves. “Reed certainly has fine taste!”

Blessedly, Clow was still right at Yue’s side, and he was frigid but polite as his free hand removed Oswald’s from Yue’s face.

“I don’t’ think he cares much for that,” Clow said not unkindly, but his eyes were firm. “Yue isn’t like your sisters butler, Oswald, or Ms. Lemark’s childlike dolls. Everything you can see in Kerberos, I’ve replicated again with Yue. He’s completely human in heart.”

“Is he now,” the same witch asked, more kindly this time, as Oswald retreated with a pink flush to his face. “REALLY human? And with a human form? Wouldn’t a better balance have been to make him feline, like Kerberos?”

Clow shook his head. “No. The physical form doesn’t create the same balance, not in that matter.”

Kero watched quietly as the remaining guests in the parlor began to gather around, to appraise and get a better look at his baby brother. It seemed to be going well, most just over==eager to get a look at a human construct from the Great Clow Reed…

But looking to the back of the room, near the windows, Kerberos spotted a small clustering of “guests” who had not moved since their arrival. Silent, obedient, standing tall and looking on the surface as human as anything and painfully beautiful…Kerberos really wasn’t sure what Yue would make of meeting a lesser magicians creations.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter have been updated to include:
> 
> Discussion of racism/racial slurs mentioned  
> Discussion of violence against women  
> Discussion of slavery  
> Violence  
> Sexual assault
> 
> a giant thank you to butterflydreaming (chrysalisdreams) for being the beta for this chapter!

The Duncan household and their tag-alongs had shown up early, barely afternoon, and had made themselves comfortable immediately out in the gardens, all seemingly as impressed with the outside of the estate as the inside. Yue, once again, was in silent agreement; a mix of their own hard work and a fair bit of magical assistance from Wood, Flower and Rain, left the sloping grounds behind the manner lush, green, and rich with blossoms. A white set of glass French doors led from a sunroom to the yard, locked open to invite the guests to flow between the indoor and outdoor space. This was a favorite spot for the small family in the evenings, with so many flowerbeds nearby just spilling over with petunias, snapdragons, and some tall, long, fuzzy-ended flower Yue hadn't learned the name of yet. Several pale willows and Russian olive trees created a slight barrier between this backyard and the rest of the more wild growth of the Reed estate. Beyond this point was the large pond, dense woods edging the property, and several private acres in between.

The partygoers, though, were encouraged to stay near, an easy request to entertain with so many finger foods and sweet teas being offered, as well as many comfortable white wicker chairs to lounge in beneath the cool shade of the trees. Even with the yard decorated for a large, impressive party, it couldn't be hidden that this was the home of a somewhat queer magician raising two 'children.' The smooth cobblestones lining several yards around the door was forever stained with inks and paints from Yue and Kero's writing lessons, Yue's calligraphy practice, and both of their artistic endeavors; the study floor had not faired any better in this regard, thus, Clow's decision for such lessons to be held out of doors. A few spots of grass here and there were more green than others, helped along by Kero's flame-throwing skills last year adding some wonderful nutrients to the soil, as well as one or two scorch marks to the house itself (and a gray hair to his master’s head). Puncture marks peppered a huge nearby tree, scars left from Yue's impromptu archery practice or throwing crystals when he would get in a horrible fit of temper; usually, this accompanied Kero's scorch marks and often ended in shouting or tears or wounds to tend. This same tree housed beneath it a bald patch of ground, covered with a tattered, much-loved and much mended quilt, that was Kerberos's very favorite napping spot (thus the lack of grass) and over one lower branch, Clow had fashioned a simple, long swing with a length of sturdy rope and a well-sanded board. Many afternoons he could look out his library window to find Kero lounged in his favorite crater while Yue sat just a few feet away, swaying gently forward and back while reading, sometimes out loud to his brother who was pretending to not listen to the story. 

However, the three knew, even Yue, that this evenings affair would not be nearly as peaceful or quiet, not with a dozen guests there by five o’clock and more arriving all the time. Honestly, though, Yue wasn't sure what Clow had been in such a fuss about; he seemed to actually be enjoying himself, once his close friend Ezra had arrived, 3 bottled of vintage wine presented to the host. Yue smiled at his greeting; he was very fond of Ezra, being the first person besides Clow who he had met, at just a week old. He was a kind man, looking in his late thirties perhaps, not much younger than Clow, though Yue hadn't a clue if that was his true age or if he was missing the mark by a century or two. His magical practice was mostly in charms and medicinal spells and tonics, but he was good at weaving illusions as well, and often did so for the young guardians, much to a newborn Yue's delight, and almost always arrived with gifts for his "little nephews". Indeed, a jar of candied cherries was wrapped in a festive ribbon for Kerberos, and Yue thanked him graciously for a watercolor block. 

Yue also never missed the fact that Clow's thank-you's generally involved a quick kiss, which always made him turn away bashful, not thinking it his place to inquire about his masters seemingly...varied love life. No, that sort of teasing was solidly Kero's domain.

"Are there going to be many more, Kerberos?" Yue asked, taking their gifts and setting them aside in a cupboard for now, making a mental note to write a thank-you letter for Ezra and make Kero sign it. His brother shook his head, and Yue still couldn't help but approve at how lose and soft his long fur ruffled as he did so. 

"Hell no, this is... maybe a quarter? There's gonna be probably sixty to seventy people here tonight, more if anyone has kids old enough to come now, or new partners."

"But isn't it rude to show up without an invitation?" Kero shrugged to his question.

"Invitation is a loose term for this party, Clow says. There's more of a solid list of who ISN’T invited than who is; jackasses who get rude and drink all the champagne and fall into fountains tend to get snubbed for a year or two." Yue wondered what the story behind this was, and was actually a bit surprised it did not, in fact, star Clow. 

"But I thought you said there could be any number of rude guests tonight?" Yue pressed on, looking to his older brother to help him through his first social affair.

"Well...yeah, there will be, but there's a difference between someone brought up ignorant throwing around 'chinaman' or 'mutt' and two assholes getting into a fistfight and smashing half of an old lady’s living room."

Yue tipped his head, his young ears and heretofore sheltered childhood keeping him from knowing some of the words Kero spoke.

"Chinaman?" he queried with knit eyebrows. "But...Clow IS Chinese, half?"

"Yeah, and so are you, at least by looks," Kero said, and Yue couldn't miss the slight rise of his shining amber fur. "Which is why I'll bite anyone who calls one of you that. It's not a nice word, Yue...Clow's real friends don't care where someone comes from, and you'll find a lot of witches and sorcerers who don't get caught up in prejudice, but magicians are human as anyone else, and humans sometimes aren't so nice to each other."

Yue nodded knowingly; Clow might have socialized only with a handful of people, but Yue was a voracious reader. He had read (and ignorantly repeated) a number of slurs through his books, which were instantly but gently corrected by his creator. 

"We don't use words like this for other people, Yue," Clow had scolded out of necessity, to drive in how important ones words were. "We don't beat away the Indian beggar children or call the man who tends my horses names like these. You'll notice he is a well-paid man, Yue, whereas in other places a man like him would be whipped and sold as property; do you understand? That's why I don't allow you to use servile language for yourself either. Don't use words for people that I have not taught you, Yue."

Clow found it of utmost importance to be just and fair, to the few people in his sporadic employ, to those who tended his business in town. Yue was not completely ignorant, he knew that he and his maker looked different from most of London's population, and that many looked down upon them for that, counterbalanced only by Clow's wealth, but he couldn't be expected, at ten months old, to know each word of delicate relation yet. And Clow instilled in him a sense of pride in who he was and how he was made, as though Yue could feel anything else! But Clow, when teaching Yue the spell to glamour his unearthly appearance, bade him to not change his face, his height, his build.

"People can be cruel and you're above that, Yue," is all he could say when they'd leave the house, Yue feeling odd with his darker, richer skintone and jet black hair pulled into a knot.

Yue nodded as he followed Kero back down the hall to the party.

"Clow says a lot of people just don't know any better," he ventured with an unsure voice. "That some are hateful, and others just say things before they think."

"That's about what it is, yeah," he agreed, nudging open an unlatched door with his broad side. "Some people say things because they don't realize the word is cruel. Others say it with malice. But that's not really what I'm most worried about, Yue. Did Clow get a chance to-"

Whatever he was going to ask of his brother was cut off by the jovial greetings of Mr. Duncan, this time accompanied by a very tall man with a very flashy set of robes. Yue was honestly taken aback by the garish blend of ruby red with vivid turquoise, and he wondered for a moment if the man might be colorblind.

Manners however, kept his lips shut in anything but a polite smile, as he made the introduction of another of his master's friends.

)o(

Whatever Clow and Kero had been worried about eluded Yue, honestly. Though a reserved young man, Yue was finding he could quite enjoy a party, if parties were like this one. Yes, it was a little overwhelming, with so many people plopped down in every corner, but he was finding many interesting guests; Mildred, the blue haired witch Kero was so fond of, told a long story of her beloved late husband finding out she was a witch while they were courting when she accidently sent him to Barbados, a tale punctuated by the doling out of many delicate, spun-sugar sweets. Currently, Yue was laughing his way through a conversation with an elderly Welsh gentleman, who was attempting to teach him some words and phrases in his own language, and Yue in return giggling over the man’s wholehearted attempts with Mandarin. Yue just found a language with seemingly no vowels to be vexing, while his companion seemed to be unable to tell a tone from a croak.

Possibly his favorite thing of the evening though, was the wide variety of pets Clow's guests had brought with them. Several large blue and gold Macaws were seated on Yue's swing, their feathers and mimicking words drawing the moon guardian close, but their sizable, bone-crushing beaks kept his hands firmly clenched into fists to guard his fingers. More approachable was the puppy that seemed to have taken a liking to Yue. Or at least, he thought it was a puppy. About twenty pounds, the animal was a butterball coated in curly, down-soft fur, but rather than black or gray or sable, his coat glistened mauve, and his tail seemed far too long for his body. A construct, Yue knew instantly, and bent down to scoop his new friend up, both to find its Master and to keep it from chewing the hem of his gown. It reminded him a bit of Jump, if only because of his round, chubby shape.

Several other small creatures like this flittered about the sunroom, the parlor, the den and the garden, and Kerberos, for one, seemed to be having the time of his life pouncing and wrestling with a great Siberian tiger hat seemed to leave a faint opal dust wherever it stepped. Quite a pretty, stardust effect, but as someone in charge of household chores, Yue shuttered to think about the cleaning of that beast! His own brother was hell enough!

He passed a peacock on his way inside, and gave the bird a polite bow and a hello as it sat perched and happy atop the open French door. 

"May I?" Yue queried of the bird, unable to resist admiring its long, beautiful tail feathers, glinting so many shades of royal plum and aqua and deepest blue. The birds only response was a slight coo, one that Yue wasn't sure was audible (did peacocks even make noise?) or was simply a magical reverberation. He smiled at the granted permission, and stroked the back of his hand gently down his tail, marveling at the cool, soft slickness of his feathers.

"Yours are much prettier than mine!" he complimented, a rare concession. His silvery feathers were stunning, he knew, with a violet sheen beneath and down as soft silk flowing and tickling against the bare skin of his back, but the colors of his new friends plumage were just stunning.

"I would love a gown in these colors," he continued his conversation, sensing the creature’s pleasure at this attention.

A voice behind him startled them both.

"What a pretty little thing!"

Yue spun around, his loose tail of hair fluttering over his shoulder as he jumped. Behind him was a young man, perhaps thirty, with warm olive eyes and a well-trimmed vest. Yue smiled, bowing to the guest, and nodded.

"Isn't he? Do you know who made him? I would like to ask his name," Yue said, watching the guest chuckle quietly. 

“Yes, him, he's quite pretty too I suppose." Before Yue could respond, he continued, "I don't think it matters much what you call him, little one. He's a magical bird but a bird nonetheless."

"Oh....yes, perhaps, but he's a construct. His Master surely named him, and it's only polite to address him by name," Yue pointed out.

The young man's face was quite handsome when he smiled, Yue noted, as he approached both Yue and his avian companion.

"As it is. Well, I am Evan, and if I recall, you are Yue?"

The moon nodded, but didn't return the smile, watching as Mr. Evan reached out to where Yue's hand had been, to stroke the birds long, decorative tail.

"Um...don't you think it is polite to ask first?" Yue ventured, glancing up at the construct. It didn't seem particularly distressed at all, but Yue was enough so for the both of them.

"Do you ask a cats permission before you pet it?" Evan countered, and Yue had to think.

"Growing up with my brother, I would say that depends on when he last ate, and if he is sleeping. He welcomes the attention, but if it's been more than a few hours since dinner, you might lose a finger."

Evan's laugh was deep and genuine, and he shook his head bemusedly. Yue held his shoulders a little more proudly, feeling very much like a gracious host, well entertaining the guests. He was a Reed too, wasn't he, and thus Clow's guests were as much his responsibility to entertain as his master’s. Yes, he had done most of the baking, such as the cookies Mr. Evan was currently enjoying from a small plate, but to be social, to make them feel welcome, this was good etiquette, wasn't it?

"Well, Yue, it seems then that you are the more civilized of the pair!" he commented, and Yue surely would not argue that fact. He straightened his posture as he heard Kero's animalistic growl behind him, and pretended that he did not, in fact, spend the previous morning in much the same tussle, coming inside with his hair stuck with leaves and grass and mud. 

"Tell me, do you bite if you're pet without permission?"

That...was a question Yue wasn't sure how to answer, and it really took him aback.

"I...excuse me, sir?" Yue pressed, trying to be polite, but his conversation partner just laughed it off.

"I'm sorry, Yue, I've had a little much to drink already tonight!" he excused himself, and Yue nodded, his unsure tension uncoiling itself. 

"I see," he said with a polite nod, still wishing he wouldn't keep petting the magically-made bird without giving it a little more respect. He had a point, he would pet a cat without asking the cat first, but even still, while Yue had a very great respect for animals, a construct was just something so similar to himself...he wouldn't hug someone or touch them without offering it first, why would this bird be any different?  
When a young witch came forward to catch up, Yue welcomed a reason to slip away, deciding to help himself to some of the baked sweets he had spent two days making.

All around him conversation bubbled, swelling more as drinks were passed around and the sun finally dipped behind the horizon. Glow's lights festooned all around the party twinkled beautifully, soft, golden, green and blue shimmering orbs sparkling like stars behind swatches of flowers or dancing on wicks where candle flames usually stood.

"Yue!"

His master’s voice was a welcome one, and he turned to smile at Clow, feeling his presence behind him as surely as he heard his voice. He couldn't help but think on how handsome Clow looked, cleaned and brushed and polished in Western clothes, a tailored waistcoat covered in blue and gold embroidery. An arm slunk warm and heavy behind his shoulders, and he soaked in the touch of his maker, feeling the overwhelming pulse of his magic heavy against him.

"Yue, I have someone I would like you to meet," he said, not for the first time and most likely not for the last. Yue let himself be lead over to a small cluster of chairs and benches, a hodge-podge taken from the gardens, the dining room, and the library. Yue bowed and smiled politely to each introduction in turn, but was honestly far more focused on a young woman seated on a bench next to an older gentleman. At first he thought it was his daughter, seeming to look about Yue's own physical age, but a hint of her magic said she was a construct; so a daughter, perhaps, but not the biological sort.

Yue sat down by his own master, and listened to Clow as he told that his friend was an astrologer, and offered to help Yue learn the art he had expressed interest in. He was eager to hear this, with it being a practice Clow himself was not terribly familiar with, but his attention kept edging back to the young, pretty girl a few yards away. She was quiet, with long, black waves tied demurely in a ribbon, an English style gown of the time cut low to reveal the deep curve of her chest. Yue looked away, knowing enough about women that such a gaze was rude, and drew his eyes back up to her face, which interested him far more anyway. She had a pretty face, with dark eyes and a small mouth, and seemed, like he, to be attending her master, listening quietly to his conversation, laughing at all the right times, touching his arm gently...Yue turned to Clow, about to ask, quietly and discreetly, why she seemed so odd to him, only to find Clow had become distracted by some bit of spellwork going on across the yard, and had left the circle.

"So tell us Yue, how do you like it here?" a very elderly, prim looking witch asked politely, a two-tailed Persian cat happily purring on her lap as it batted her long string of pearls.

"Oh...um...? Oh! The party is lovely, I'm still worried I didn't make enough food though." he answered, but chortles and snickers were not the reaction he was expecting from his comment. The old witch's eyes were somewhat clouded, as she squinted a lot as she smiled.

"No, darling, I mean here. With Reed," she clarified, and Yue felt himself color under his makeup.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I...I mean, of course I'm happy! Master has been teaching me French, and cooking; I'm quite good at it, if I may."

"I'm sure your master has taught you plenty, hm?"

Ah...he hadn't heard Evan approach their group, until he spoke behind him, leaning over the back of the wicker sofa with a glass of wine. He winked obviously at Yue, who could only smile hesitantly back.

“Of course! Um...I can recite, in English and Mandarin, and he's teaching me his mother's folklore. I know a little of botany and gardening, and he's teaching me maths, though I'm not quite as well at them. A little astronomy, of course, some biology-"

"Anatomy?" his sharp ears heard a short magician whisper to another guest, who hid his sigh of laughter behind his cup.

"Um...yes?" Yue began to agree, but the astrologist that Yue had spoken to a few moments ago spoke up, his voice a bit wheezy, from drink or smoke, but commanding.

"Astronomy you say?" he said boldly, as though wanting to sway the conversation a different direction. 'That's a good lad; you'll need that first, if you're going to want to learn to read the stars."

Yue sighed gratefully, though why, he wasn't completely sure, and he leaned forward to close to the gap between them to talk; it was poor posture, but it got him a few inches further away from the other guests, from Evan...honestly he wasn't sure the man should still be drinking. He seemed to be a very friendly man, but Yue didn't think wine was really agreeing with him.

He almost swore, a moment late, as the rustling grass told the story of Evan's departing footsteps, that he felt something ghost almost unnoticed over the long tail of loose hair running in a waterfall down his back, but he was sure that it was only a breeze.

)o(

The party seemed to be nearing its full swell near midnight, and it was impossible to walk more than a few feet without being baptized in a shower of sparks, glittering dust, spell-light or, once, disturbingly, spit. Yue wasn't sure what kind of spellwork involved saliva but he was glad his master did not practice it. It seemed rude at best. 

"Kerberos, have you seen Clow?" he asked his older brother from their reclaimed spot underneath the tree, Yue in his swing, the two watching the light show from a flamboyant, comical dual and sharing several chocolate-filled sweet rolls. 

The lion licked the fudge cream from his claws with great care, grabbing every morsel from his fur. "He's on the roof," he said carelessly. "Trying to teach someone a floating spell. Don't worry,” he added in response to Yue's horrified eyes. "There's charms around the house right now. If he fell from that high, he'd just bounce like he'd landed on a giant bubble. He said it's because of some flooding thing from 1688."

That calmed Yue's suddenly flared nerves, as he split another bun in half, keeping the larger part for himself this time, but passing the half with the most chocolate to his elder sibling. His bare feet scraped against the cool grass underfoot as he swayed, arms linked around the ropes as he ate his treat and watched the party. By this point, truthfully, Yue was getting a little overwhelmed. Being around so many people was a new experience in and of itself but he didn't like being reminded of how young he was. He fancied himself to be very intelligent, and Master Clow told him he was bright and a fast learner, but there were so few conversations going on that night that he could follow. he knew little of politics, or government, or business. He was only the most novice of sorcerer himself, most of his magic being inborn; for actual magicians spells, he knew only very basics, and when he showed off his little trick of summoning a small bundle of flowers, the reactions of the guests had been mostly bemused cooing, as though he had done something very cute. 

That was when Kerberos had nudged him away, seeing the confusion and small bit of hurt on his brothers face. Of course he should be proud, summoning something from nothing wasn't easy, especially for a being less than a year old, and it was a magic-spellcasting -- that Kerberos himself did not have the same way Yue would someday. But to that group...well how sweet, a construct acting like Master, like a child mimicking the adults around him, isn't that adorable? They had not been unkind...that was the problem. That was actually a very kind reaction to give most constructs who tried magic. 

There were so many around tonight, and honestly they gave Kero the willies. Oh sure, the animal ones were all find and dandy; he'd had a blast playing with May, and he'd had a nice long talk with Yue's peacock buddy, but they were something so much different than they were. Aware, yes, but without so many of the hallmarks of humanity. Little thought of the future, no understanding of danger or death or the world beyond what they had been designed to do. 

It was the human ones that freaked him out, and he could see Yue unnerved by that one girl as well. The animals, at the least, mostly acted like animals. Not the smartest perhaps, but at least resembling inner what they were outer. But the human ones...well, only Clow Reed had ever made truly sentient beings, who could reason and argue and have free will and a human’s range of emotions and fears and passions, so of course none of these magical beings could be comparable to them...but it was more obvious, for those of human form. Pets, that's what a construct was to all but Clow Reed. Pets, companions, maids, servants...and other things. And to Kero, it was disturbingly obvious which human-formed beings were for companionship of an innocent, lonely-old-lady sort, and which were companions of a creepier variety. 

He just didn't know whether or not Yue understood that, or if it was his place to tell. It was certainly his place, though, to be ready to maul and disembowel anyone who decided to look at Yue like that. Tweaking his nose for showing off his memorization was fine, if demeaning, but it was harmless. So many of these magicians just...couldn't understand, though they tried. Others, though, viewed constructs the same way some might view those with dark skin; as not really human, as not really feeling. In a world where one man who whip and beat and enslave another simply for a different shape to the eyes or hue to the skin, It was hardly a surprise to Kero that there were magicians who would not see them as equal, not even being born from women. 

"...I think our Master may be daft," Yue spoke up suddenly, looking skywards with a heavy, mournful look, watching as Clow seemed to be pantomiming flight poorly to his student, slapping his arms up and down in a most ridiculous manner.

"I wish I could say you were wrong, Yue. I also wish I could say he was drunk," Kero replied with a suffering bellow of a sigh, dramatically covering his face with a broad, groomed paw, as though trying to hide his face or his line of vision with shame. Yue laughed, jabbing his side with his toes before tearing the last roll in half, setting the plate down to his sibling to lick clean, and excusing himself to bring out the next batch for the still-raving party.

It took the guardian some time to actually make it back to the kitchens. First a group of Scottish men wanting him to join in on their dancing, of which Yue knew no steps and politely declined, and then his Welsh friend tried again to pronounce the phrase Yue had taught him and Yue had to press his painted lips together to stifle a laugh, looking for a nice way to inform him of what it actually sounded like he said. Another small duel near the doorways showered him in what looked like blue diamonds but smelled like lilacs; if Kero was near, he's sure he would know next what they tasted like, but Yue was not so adventurous. His great excursion right now was simply to take another silver tray of scones and buttered rolls out to his guests. 

He savored the quiet of the kitchen as the door swung shut behind him. The music and shouting and laughter that had followed him down the hall became muted and muffled, locking Yue into a calmer bit of the world. He breathed deeply, smelling cinnamon and turmeric and yeast, chocolate and freshly baked pastries. He enjoyed being in the kitchen usually, but now it was an even richer pleasure. He plucked a broad apron off a hook near the door, a Japanese style gown that slipped over his embroidered clothes, sleeves and all, and buttoned behind the neck. A simple spell from Firey kept the rolls and croissants warm on the stove, and fresh, as though he'd just taken them from the oven, though he had done so hours before. He plucked a sweet sesame bean roll off the platter to indulge himself as he sat a small pan on their coal stove and grabbed a wire to cut off a chunk of salt-packed butter. He licked the tangy cream from his fingers, bidding the fire to light by magic. Slowly he felt the cast iron cook top start to warm, and then grow hot, gently heating the pan to melt the butter, into which he whisked the smallest pinch of sugar and ginger for the sweet rolls.

Caught up in his work and making sure the butter didn't scald and turn brown, he startled when the door to the kitchen swung open, letting in a rush of cool air and the din from the party.

And Evan, and Yue's only thought was that if he was looking for the powder room, he was severely lost.

"It smells wonderful in here!" he said by way of a greeting, and Yue smiled kindly, trying once again to be welcoming.

"It's from the bread I baked this morning," he answered with a measured balance of sweetness and hesitancy; he got nervous when someone watched him cook, and tended to burn things. Bread, jellies, his fingertips, to name a few. Another quick spell cooled the flamed behind the stove door, and he moved the pan to the counter to keep it from overcooking. "And the rolls...would you like one, sir?" he offered, feeling as though the polite title was necessary here. Evan smiled, grinned more like, as though he liked either the honorific, or the offer of food. Yue watched as he helped himself to one before it was even glazed, but felt a little better as he gave his approval.

"Reed taught you well, little one. Delicious."

Yue nodded, his face again going pink, unused to this sort of behavior from visitors. Ezra and maybe three others were their only frequent guests, and none acted quite so...forward. Honestly Yue felt that his mother should have taught him better manners when visiting another person's home. 

"Thank you...um...sir? I'll bring more out soon...the kitchen is a little hot with just one person," he said unsure of his words. This wasn't Evan's home, nor was he anyone of much esteem as far as he could tell. He seemed to get along find and friendly with everyone at the gathering, but he'd yet to really display any magical prowess, at least within Yue's line of sight. On the other hand, Yue's nature and instincts were yielding when it came to Clow or anyone who might be Clow's social peer. He didn't want to come across as rude. He didn't want to be scolded.

Evan, though, seemed to not mind the warm kitchen fires that much, as he tore off another bite of his bread.

"No, it's fine in here, honestly. It's a little...crowded out there. Do you need any help?" he quipped, and Yue wasn't able to read his tone. It seemed almost...mocking, teasing? Whatever it was, it was unsettling, and he felt the back of his neck prickle as he turned away, reaching for a spoon to start the finishing touch on his pastries.

"I'm fine, thank you. My Master set me to this work, I'm more than capable of handling it."

"That's more like it," Evan's voice carried over his shoulder. "Far better talk than that nonsense outside. Ask the bird’s permission? Reed sure set an unusual humor into you, didn't he? Suits him, I suppose."

Yue dipped his spoon methodically into the glaze, dripped a little onto each warm roll, spread the sweet topping with the bowl of the spoon, and repeated, wanting to appear industrious and distracted. He'd decided he didn't much care for Evan, even if he was a friend of Clow's. He seemed to be too fond of drink, and was, as Kero would say, a mean drunk, perhaps. It was strange, though. Yue could smell only the faintest bit of wine on him, and nothing harder. No liquor, no ale, just red wine, and he was of a rather strong build. A little wine wouldn't-

He dropped his pan back to the counter with a harsh clatter when he again felt fingertips at his neck, over his hair, knowing very assuredly this time that it was no breeze, nor heat wave from the stove. It was Evan's hand, parting his hair, stroking the strands just under his knot.

"He may be peculiar as anything but I have to say, for looks at least, he has exquisite taste." Yue felt his voice nearly as much as he heard it, and the light from the candles behind him was blocked out by his shadow as he stepped far too close to be proper.

"I...Mr. Evan, I don't think-"

"Which is how it should be," he said in an almost chastising tone, a sharp, superior tone that had Yue's mouth shut in an instant. His voice sounded like Clow's when he had tried his patience too much that night, or been disobedient...he didn't like to be scolded, to be told he'd done something wrong, so he quieted, as he felt Evan's fingers...far too coordinated to be inebriated, tug at the button on the back of his apron, letting the crisp white cotton fall down the front of his long lavender gown.

Yue finished shrugging it off, held it in one hand, and tried to turn away from Evan to toss it over the back of a nearby chair, but he was stopped quickly, a strong, calloused hand grabbing his wrist strong enough to make his grip open. The apron fell to the stone floor with a soft hushing, just enough to cover Yue's surprised breath. 

"Constructs are not meant to try and think for themselves," Evan lectured, almost casually, as though setting about to give Yue a lesson on history. "You're like women, really, Yue."

"Actually sir, I'm not really either, I'm-!"

Whatever description of gender Yue was willing to supply, though, in a desperate attempt to sway the conversation, was cut off roughly, not by a stern look or a warning tap sharply on the shoulder or wrist, but by a slap full across his face, hard enough to turn his head. A stinging pain cut across his face as he bit into his lip, and he raised a shaking hand to his face, wiping where it burned, and pulled it back to look. He'd hoped for a moment that the red streak across his thumb was simply some of the crimson color he'd used to paint the center of his lip, but the bitter coppery taste flowing across his tongue debunked that theory.

"See? That's what I mean. You're not made to be able to understand things like that. You don't even understand a simile?" he scoffed, and Yue felt his hand reach up to take his face, turning his jaw to peer at his face. A frown, furrowed brows, and he reached into his pocket to pull out a linen square.

"Poor thing..." he cooed, dabbing gently at Yue's split lip, his gentle demeanor such a change from what had just happened, striking him, that Yue almost felt dizzy. Why...why had he struck him? Why was he pitying him...?

"Reed fills your simple little head up with this notion that you can play with the grown-ups, doesn't he," he starts, and Yue has enough sense to stay quiet and not quip an answer to his rhetorical question. He stayed still, letting Evan dab up the streak of blood for him. "I meant it though, you see? Constructs are like women, or children, or slaves. You don't ever really grow or change, you need someone to mind you constantly or you'll get yourselves into trouble. And nothing is more dangerous that a construct or a woman or a slave that thinks its place is grander than it really is."

Yue listened without absorbing, all those words just sticking to the surface of his skin in a confusing whorl. Women? Slaves? No, his master didn't treat him like others treated their wives or those held under them in forced labor. Clow wasn't like that, he wanted to tell him, but feared another slap. Where was Clow...where was Kerberos?

Evan folded his handkerchief back up neatly and tucked it into his breast pocket, but his hand immediately returned to Yue's chain, his fingertips dragging from his jaw down his throat, Yue unwittingly offering a prettier view as he tipped his head back, wanting to tip away from him, but succeeding only in elongating his pale throat.

"That's a good boy," he was praised, words that, even despite his confusion, were a warm, familiar weight in his belly. "You know better than Reed's fairytales, don't you? You just want your Master to be happy don't you?"

"...Yes," Yue whispered. "I love my Master...but what...?"

"Well then, pretty thing, you should shush yourself and serve your guests as you would your master."

Whatever these words meant to Evan, they sure as hell didn't mean to Yue, as he felt his hand trailing down over the front of his hanfu, tracing his knuckles over the cool silk, two layers not enough to hide the muscle on Yue's chest. He didn't like this, he decided immediately, he didn't like Evan being so deep into his personal space, didn't like the smell of his cologne or his soap or his drink, but what could he do? It would be beyond rude to excuse himself now...serve him as he did his Master? Had Clow sent him in here, then? Was he supposed to be doing something?

"You know, people around have been talking about you tonight. Pretty little oriental thing like you? Can't hardly tell the boys from the girls half the time can you," Evan pressed on, one hand stopped over his chest, tickling his ribs, and Yue felt the weight of his gown shift as Evan's other hand parted the front overlap, reaching for the silk white he wore as a wrap underneath, and Yue felt his heart start to pound against his ribs. He prayed for it to stop; with his guests hand right there, he'd feel it, wouldn't he?"

"Rumor going around that you're not made like some of the others. Too pretty to be all boy. Are you one of those children of Hermaphroditus?" Yue tipped his head, not understanding the name or the reference; he had just TRIED to explain himself to Evan and had been slapped and he'd bled and he was terrified and God...he could feel Evan's palm sliding up his thigh, pressing the soft, thin weave of his under robe to his skin, reaching higher.

"So which is it then, Yue? Clow says he, but you're all painted up like a doll; which do you have? Or will I get a surprise with both?"

As he spoke, his breath drew closer to Yue's ear, to his cheek, and his hand reached the top of Yue's thigh, and began to reach between his legs.

Evan never got the chance though, to continue his perverted explorations, because the impending confusion and horror finally broke through Yue's deep confusion and almost feverish fog, and with about four seconds time, a sharp snapping twist to his wandering hand and a crash powerful enough to send the pan rack clattering to the floor several feet away, Yue had his would-be lover on the floor. All his weight pressed directly onto his lower sternum through his knee, and beneath Yue's grasp he knew without looking that he'd broken his arm. He thought that the man below him was intensely pale, but it was hard to tell in the powerful blue glow emanating from his right hand as he summoned a sharp, jagged crystal. The cut, diamond-hard gem cast a beautiful, ghostly-gray light against Evan's skin as it pressed threatening into the skin at his throat. 

"Yue, are you alright? We could heard that all the way out- OH MY GOD."

Yue heard Ezra's voice at the door, but it didn't register, nor did Evan's pleading as he tried in vain to twist Yue's hands away with the one he still had working, but it was a fruitless pursuit. Yue was strong.

"Jesus Christ...Clow?! Clow! Damn it...someone get Reed, and where's Kerberos? No, someone get in here HURRY, he's going to bloody kill him!"

No one looking in on this scene would have wanted to approach Yue, especially those few who knew how much power was coiled under the braided hair and embroidered gown and painted face. Even those who didn't, would well be aware now. He looked like a wild thing, like the warrior he was created to be, his tense muscles visible where his hanfu had folded up his arm, keeping Evan's obviously twisted wrist pinned to the floor. Despite the group hesitation though, someone had to, while Kerberos was still bounding up the grounds and Clow was being yelled at up on the roof.

Ezra prayed to any God listening that the moon guardians apparent bloodlust wouldn't be turned on him as he slipped over and tried to grab his hand, the one holding a deadly-sharp blade of clear blue crystal.

"Yue, drop that, come on, Clow's coming," he tried to persuade, but Yue fought to hold his ground, so violently that two more men had joined in the tussle before Kerberos and, at his heels, Clow Reed sprinted through the kitchen door.

"YUE!" Clow screamed out at the sight, his guardian's face flushed, a smear and trickle of blood running from his lips down his chin, his hair in dissaray as he thrashed between Ezra and two other strong, muscled young men. Shorter than all three, Yue still proved almost impossible to get a hold of, so one decided the better course of action was to grab a shell-shocked Evan and try to drag him out from under his mauler. 

"Let me GO!" Yue growled, flashing sharp teeth and all but snarling, looking for all the world as much a wildcat as Kerberos, who, for his part, was trying to get ahold of Yue's hair in his teeth, going for a weak point of leverage, while Clow joined in on the effort to try and get Yue under control.

'Yue, you stop this, come on, you're going to hurt yourself!" Clow tried to shout over Yue's own growing voice, desperate to both catch and avoid Yue's strongly aimed fists and flailing kicks. Ezra's companion, who was well over six feet tall, managed to link his arms around Yue's chest and lift him physically from the ground, which stopped the thrashing, but just gave him more leverage to kick.

"Let GO of me!" He shrieked over and over, switching from English to Chinese one word to the next, his shouting as frantic as his fighting. Clow was trying everything he could to get up next to him, but his creation was in too much a frenzied panic to listen for his voice. he could put him into check, command he be still with just a word, but before he could even try, Yue used his own weight and leverage to pull his body downward, tipped over a man a good seven inches taller than he, and managed to tear and claw his way out of their reach, making a sprint for the corner where Evan was propped up.

It was Kero that got to him first, needing not to run, but to only lunge, taking his younger brother down to the floor in a flurry of claws, teeth, amber fur, and an almost splitting scream. Yue wouldn't fight off almost five hundred pounds of pure, beastlike muscle, and the fall itself seemed to have knocked the wind out of him, since he had stopped his shrieking

"Yue!" Clow was at his side instantly, urging Kero off his guard and grabbing hold of his child's shoulders. He was sickly white, save for the hell bound red flush to his cheeks, and his almond eyes were clenched tightly closed as he struggled to get in an actual breath; Clow's hand ran across something hot, wet and sticky on Yue's arm, and when he pulled his grip back, his fingers were stained bed; Kero had bit him, a fact that seemed to have the older brother already shocked and remorseful as he hacked behind the counter, before dunking his maw into the water trough.

"Yue...Yue, sweetheart, look at me...come on, look at me!" Clow urged, grabbing a dish towel from the counter to press into Yue's arm, wanting to stem the bleeding, despite the hissing the pressure on the wound caused. But at least he was making sound again.

"Yue, darling, what happened? What the hell was going on?" he demanded to know, terrified for his guardian, confused as hell looking between him and a now shaking Evan.

Yue's own breath was still coming in gulps, and when he opened his eyes, they looked at the same time terrified and wild.

"He...Clow, he...I...I'll kill him!" he gasped, looking as though he wanted to lunge at his again, but his strength was leaving him. " I'll kill him...Master, he tried...he...he hit me, he tried to...he touched me..."

There was a deafening silence in the Reed kitchen, but only for a moment, before the loudest sound of the quarrel yet erupted from Kerberos's throat, and the magician who had been attending him had about a second and a half to grab the half conscious man and use a moving spell to transport himself and Evan away from Kerberos's gaping, toothy jaws. 

"Where the hell is he?!" Kerberos screamed between his deep, animalistic roaring, his claws out, fierce long and curved as he scraped them against the stone floor. "Bring that bastard back here, where the hell is he?!"

The half dozen men still scattered around the kitchen (another two had left to herd the guests out as far away from the scene as possible upon Yue's accusation) all scurried as far away from the great sun beast as they could, while Clow, frazzled and shaking nearly as much as the guardian held in his arms, used the same spell on Kero that he would have on Yue.

"Ke...Kerberos, please," he said to the now still but broiling-mad guardian. "Let us handle Evan, it won't due for us to have to hide a body," he implored of his companion, but Kero looked in no damned mood to play nice to Clow's wishes right now.

"...that's a direct order," Clow finally panted, struggling still to calm the last of Yue's fighting spirit. He had both arms pinned behind Yue's back, holding his back to his own chest, and trying to cocoon himself around Yue as much as he could while still stemming the bleeding from his bite mark.

"Yue," he whispered, right into his ear to reach him through his cries. "Yue, be still now, my love. I have you, I'm right here, you're safe," he soothed, bringing his magic to the surface of his skin, letting it wash from his fingertips as he stroked Yue's cheek, warm and red and...wet? More blood...no. He was crying, and Clow felt his chest clench tightly as he unbound his firstborn's spell.

"Yue, no, you're fine," he cooed, and from the corner of his vision he watched the remaining men filter from the room, to leave them be, to figure out what to do with Evan while they waited. 

"He...He came in while I was c..cooking," Yue gasped out, his tears starting to well faster. "And he was acting so...strange...and I'm not your slave, that's not...not how we...not right!"

"Yue you're going to pass out of you don't calm down!" Clow urged, wrapping his arms tightly around his guardian, trying to calm his shaking, stop his tears, but he was beginning to hiccup through his words.

"No, I...! I'm sorry! I...didn't know what to...do...I didn't want that!" he began to cry out, trying to curl in on himself, shuddering at the remembered feeling of his hands on his thigh. "I didn't think...that I was supposed to...wanted to be p...polite! He...he said I...good boy...!"

"He's panicking," Clow mouthed silently to Kero who was looking at Yue with his own panic and dread, trying to nuzzle onto his lap, worry plaguing him along with guilt at the blood soaking down Yue's sleeve. 

Clow wrapped Yue as close to him as possible, rocking him gently and reaching for his hand, torn between letting him talk and trying to calm him, to hush him.

"Yue, please, just breathe right now...you've nothing to be sorry about, darling, you're fine, you're safe." This time he managed to get a tiny nod in return.

They sat this way for the next half hour, as Yue sobbed, and shook, and clung to Clow, to his brother, to his own arms and clothes and skin, until finally he seemed to have exhausted himself. He grew quiet, the only sound from him being his shaking, steadying breath, and the sound of his sweat damped clothes as Clow rubbed his back, between where his wings would be. 

"Yue...Yue, can you stand?" he asked gently, and Yue nodded vaguely. Clow wasn't completely sure, but he helped Yue to his feet, wrapping his arms around him, and Kero came up to give his brother something sturdy to lean on. Both could feel him shaking as they lead him down a now deserted hallway. Only a few people could be seen outside, being herded one way and another, traveling spells going off after Mildred offered to host next year. 

Clow helped Yue down a hall on the other side of the kitchen, beneath the stairs that lead up to their bedrooms, to find the bathroom, one ahead of its time amenity of the house, with hot taps and a large tub that wouldn't be common for another century and a half. But right now, he just wanted to get the bloodstained clothing off Yue, get his well-run makeup off his face and the sweat from his hair.

Nothing was said between them as Clow helped Yue peel the dampened robes from his body, careful where it was starting to stick over the wound; it needed cleaning. He was of no risk for an infection, but it still hurt, and wouldn't heal right if he didn't clean it well. He held Yue close as he helped him step into the tub, and Yue did seem to relax as the hot, soapy water lathed over his cold body. A towel folded over the porcelain edge gave Yue something to lean on as Clow's fingers working to unbind his hair, pulling out pins and combs in innumerable amounts, letting the long, silver mass fall into the water.

Surprising them both, Kero was right with him, front paws practically in the water as he "helped" Yue get clean, licking from the crown of his hair down in the way instinct taught him. He was terrified, Clow could feel it, and guilt ridden at the pink tinge in the water, and he was doing all he knew how to do to tend his younger brother.

Honestly, Clow wasn't that much more sure of himself, on what to do right now, besides try to not stab Evan the moment he saw him. At the very least, news of this would spread, and he wouldn't find his way back into the local community anytime this millennium. 

Gently, he indicated that Kero had "helped" enough, and poured a basin of warm water from the tap over Yue's head, watching the lilac tones spring out as his hair saturated and darkened. Washing Yue's hair like this was laborious, but he thought, rightly, that they all needed something to do right now. Soap was poured liberally over his back, suds sliding down his lean, muscular arms and chest as he scratched against his scalp to wash his hair for him, carrying the sweet smelling suds onto his neck and shoulders as well.

"...Master?" Yue finally asked gently after his hair was rinsed clean, smelling like lavender and glistening soft.

Normally Clow would correct him with his name as a way of acknowledging him to speak further, but he didn't have the will for it right now.

"What is it, love?" he prompted gently, a bit of rough cloth softened in hot water serving as a scrub for Yue's chest, his underarms, delicate around the bite, which Yue seemed to be growing protective of.

Yue stared solidly at the dense layer of suds growing in the deep water as he let his maker bathe him.

"I'm sorry for the scene I caused tonight," he said sorrowfully in barely above a whisper. Clow dropped the washcloth and soap into the water, dried his hand hurriedly on his own pant, and tipped Yue's face up to meet him.

“No," was his firm, solid reply, and to Yue's hurt confusion he sighed and added, "You did NOTHING wrong tonight, my love, do you understand? Evan did." Rolling up his sleeve, he searched for the cloth, sudsing it again, and watched Yue's narrow eyes clench closed as Clow began to scrape the powder and rouge from his face. A finally rinse, a wind charm to start drying his yards of hair, and he had Yue sit on the bathroom floor in several thick towels, a brush in one hand, helping him untangle the mess.

"Did...is he...is he still here?"

Clow didn't have to ask who 'he' was.

"Likely not by now," he reassured him gently, and could feel the warm relief surge through him. In silence he worked, braiding his hair tightly for him, finishing in a pretty blue ribbon at his feet, and took him to his own room to sleep that night; he had a feeling, rightly, that he'd be sharing a bed with Kerberos too, and honestly right now he would have it no other way. All he wanted right now was to get Yue dressed, himself into his bedclothes, and dress Yue’s arm (about which he cried and hissed when Clow tried to rub ointment onto it, which caused the sick pit in Kero's stomach to deepen). Once wrapped, Yue seemed to not really have much desire to move his left arm, keeping it tucked protectively to his chest, wincing at the pressure as he was laid down and tucked into Clow's bed. He lit the oil lamps, brought out the feather down pillows for winter, and asked an inquiring Ezra to make them tea.

Clow Reed felt like a failure who could do nothing to fix what had just happened, but he could damn well do everything he could to make Yue feel safe.

Honestly, though, at this point, it wasn't fear so much he sensed from Yue, as...sorrow? Shame, confusion, anxiety.

"He isn't here, Yue," Clow promised again, sitting beside him on his large bed, Kero solidly taking up the center and keeping his twin warm and covered in fur. Yue nodded vaguely to show he understood, but with both he and Kero here, as well as his own prowess, he wasn't afraid of anything Evan could do to him, no...

"Clow...am I like a woman?"

Clow squinting at the question, took off his pince nez glasses for a polish as though that would help him to hear better.

"Pardon, Yue?"

Yue plucked a thread on the coverlet, lapping his tongue on his swollen bottom lip; even in the weak light, Clow could see a rather spectacular bruise forming on his jaw. 

"Evan...he said, um...that we- constructs, I mean- we're like women...that we...aren't like you?"

Clow's blue eyes just continued to gather more lines around them as his confusion grew.

"Yue, you know the answer to that; of course you're made differently than we are, but it's your soul that makes you both the same as I, or Ezra, or anyone else. Why would you take his word above the truth I tell you?"

Yue shrugged one shoulder, the other throbbing too badly to want to move.

"It's just...he said, that constructs like us, we're like women or children or owned men. That no matter what we think, we aren't going to be like you...that we need to be taught and looked after..."

"And do you think women or children or people born with darker skin are somehow below people of my father's ancestry?"

"No!” Yue asserted, his violet eyes round at the very implication. Clow nodded in a 'well there you go' fashion, but this didn't quell Yue's anxieties.

"But, Master...those people, are all still people. They're humans, even if some argue otherwise. But I...Kerberos and I...we're not like you. We're like...like the woman in the garden, right? With the dark hair?"

Yue watched Clow and Kero exchange a heavy, dark look, and scowled, not liking when those two seemed to know something not yet taught to him.

"Yue...we may not be like, HUMAN human, but we're really not like her...especially you, ok?" Kero tried to glaze over, but Yue was inquisitive and thirsty to be informed.

"But she's a construct... and she looks like me. Like...human, I mean..."

"But you know you and Kero are the only ones like you," Clow tried to remind him gently, and it didn't go unnoticed to Yue that Clow was already polishing his glasses again, seeming to be nervous. "Yue...darling, no, you are not like her, no more than a small child is like a porcelain doll. She...Margarite isn't really...there," he tried to explain gently, but Yue's eyes were not dawning with any understanding. Clow sighed, scrubbing a tired hand over tired eyes, and searched for words that would not further traumatize his child.

"Yue...I've taught you, haven't I, and you have read, that in the world there is an attitude that those with brown skin or copper skin or eyes that look like ours are somehow not as good as others?" He nodded. "And that women are second class citizens, that they should be beaten and forced to submit to husbands?" Another nod. "And yet you also know that there are many who are male or who are white, who don't think that way? And those in between, who hold no malice, but are misinformed? Well...in our world, Yue, the same applies to women and people with dark skin, but also to magical constructs."

"To beings like us," Yue made clear, and bother his maker and brother nodded.

"Yes...when Evan said you are like a woman, or a kept man, that is what he meant. In his eyes, Yue, you are not human, and no amount of free will would ever make you so. But he's wrong, and you know that, don't you, child?"

When Yue did not immediately nod eagerly nod his agreement, Clow's mood continued to sink, and he quietly waited for Yue to speak.

"...Clow? What would Evan have meant, then...that a good creature like me, would serve a guest the way I served my master?"

Yue didn't like how Clow's face turned the color of old milk, or how his shoulders began to sink as though suddenly under a heavy weight.

"Yue..." he began, popping his fingers for something to do. "Well...You'll notice that...there aren't a great many constructs that you've seen, or are like you. Human. In fact I'd venture Margarite and the young blonde boy were the only ones you've met, yes? Well...human-formed companions are not so rare, it's just that, they are usually...servants. They're maids or butlers, not something to take out of the house....but some are...Yue, ones like Margarite, you have to understand, they are not conscious. Their talk and intelligence is not real, they're set to say things according to a pre- approved script more or less, because...well, their primary purpose is for bedroom company."

Yue was silent, his gaze turned again down to the coverlet, to the loose thread he was beginning to obsessively pluck and pull at. He saw, just before he felt, Clow's hands reaching out to take hold of his, one in both of Clow's, as Clow urged him to look up.

"Yue," Clow breathed, when his guardians deep eyes met him, looking more afraid and confused than in the bath. "Yue, you are a very...very beautiful person. You are perfect, you're my very idea of beauty, and I wanted you this way, for your own pride, and for my own, because I am selfish and I enjoy looking at beautiful things," he said with a small wink, and Yue tried to return with a smile he did not feel. "But because of this, you look, to those behind the times, to those who don't know better, or those cruel enough to not care...you look to them as Margarite would. There are those who assume that I made you only to warm my bed, like a concubine or a rent boy. And, in some older times, among some families, it was common for the master of a house to offer his travel weary guests his...his dolls, for lack of a better term."

"...I am nobody's doll." Was Yue's whispered reply, his voice firm as stone though his eyes belied more doubt. "He...he spoke to me, in the garden...he talked of the animals, the pets, as though they were just objects, not even alive, something to use...he hit me when I tried to turn away from him, as though how DARE I tell him no, and he...he talked about my body as though it was a curiosity he had a right to be privy too, asking vulgar questions about what sex my body was...! And...I didn't know if I was allowed to tell him no."

"Yue, if there is one damn thing you have a right to, it is to absolutely devour anyone who tries to do anything like that to you!" Clow bellowed, far more loudly than he intended, causing his boys to both jump and curl onto one another. With a deep breath and an apology, he tried again.

"Yue, you broke his arm. I'd have broken his neck if I'd been there sooner, and Kero would have just plain eaten him-" at this, Kero nodded sagely- "And frankly, my only shame in this is on myself, for not preparing you for this sooner. Anyone ever tries that shit with you, destroy them. Break their bones, kick them, punch, bite, shoot them, do whatever you need to...Yue, don't you ever wonder why it is I push you so hard to learn language and calligraphy and art and philosophy?"

"Because you want us to both be rounded and learned but I am the one with hands?" Yue ventured, recalling how haphazardly Kero handled a brush and quill. Clow allowed a small smile, but shook his head.

"It's because you are a very, very beautiful young man, Yue, and there are so many situations in this world now and in times to come, where because of this you will not be respected or taken seriously. I want you strong, I want you intelligent, I want you to be able to stun someone with your biting tongue as easily as with your looks. Do you understand?"

Yue was quiet, but did soon nod, sincerely, seriously, and slowly. Clow seemed to be well relieved, and brought Yue to his chest again, to hold, to stroke his hair.

"Yue...I wanted you to be human. I gave you and Kero each your forms for reasons very important to me, and you're both so perfect...but with a human body, Yue, I knew you would face pain and challenges in this world, in both of our worlds, that Kero would not. And if that pains you too much, I'm sorry, but I know you're stronger than any of that, alright? You just showed very well that you can handle yourself...just don't let that slip your mind, if anyone dares try to touch you, or talk about how you are made as though you can't understand them, or tries to demean you as something lower. The BOTH of you, but especially you, Yue, and you know why."

"I...do," Yue answered, warm and safe against Clow's chest. And for the most part, he did. Perhaps tomorrow, after sleep, after his arm stopped hurting with every movement and pull of muscle, it would all make more sense, when he stopped feeling foreign hands on his chin, on his chest, on his thighs...all he wanted to feel right now were Clow's own hands, so different, gentle and kind, and Kero's thick, silky fur against him.

"Yue, I made you to mirror, I made you to be in my orbit, I made you both to guard me, but don't forget that the earth shields and protects the moon. I'll keep you safe as long as you need me, just as I know the two of you would do for me.

"Of course we would, Clow!" Yue startled, looking up at Clow with his bruise still growing, encroaching up his cheek. Clow frowned, pressing a thumb so gently to the edge, and watched Yue pull away and hiss.

"Ice...you need ice," he murmured to himself, intent on keeping Yue resting in bed for the next day. And spoiled for some time after.

"Yue...I'm so sorry," Clow said with deep remorse, his face still pale. "I should have...I didn't tell you what I should have, and I expect to be punished soundly for some time by your brother-" another pointed nod, and a baring of teeth, "but please...be angry for what I didn't do, not for how I made you. You're beautiful and you're thoughtful and you're demure and it will attract trouble for you, but I also made you strong, far more than I, and you'll be all the stronger for it...please, Yue, forgive me."

Yue peered up at his maker with deepest love, and pain, to hear Clow begging so earnestly to be forgiven for a sin uncommitted.

"Clow...I could never hate you for what you made me," Yue murmured, as one who took deepest pride in being the moon. "It's not your fault what he did...and it...isn't mine, right?"

"Jesus Yue, no!" Clow hissed, sharply enough that Yue withdrew again, and Clow cursed himself internally.

"No, Yue...it's his, you were afraid, you didn't know how to react...you are an obedient man, and you want to do well, you want to serve, you want to be right...Of course you would listen to what an older man said, you're still so..."

Whatever it was that Yue was still so much of, Clow never got to finish. All he could do is pull Yue to his chest as he laid down, cradling Yue, needing he contact as much as Yue did.

"...Ma...Clow? Um...Maybe I don't know everything that I'm supposed to be yet...but whatever it is, I...I could never be angry at you for it. You made me, you gave me this body, you say I am bright and strong and beautiful...why would I be angry?"

Clow chuckled at himself derisively, petting Yue's hair.

"Because I made you all of those things, Yue, but I also made you human. I made you like me. And you'll learn some day, Yue, that being human means being flawed. Deeply so. Being mortal means making mistakes...I have made many in raising the two of you, I am sure I will make many more...but if ever you think I was mistaken in making you, Yue...Kero...forgive your maker, for I am only human, and I try."

Yue just nuzzled closer, to both seek and to offer comfort, wanting sleep, wanting to not think about what happened, wanting to just rest in his masters arms.

Human...construct...moon...mortal...whatever Yue was, he couldn't say with as much certainty now as he did this morning. He wanted to be like Clow, to mimic him, because Clow was, to Yue, everything one should strive to be...but it had been made very clear tonight, that he was not. He would never be a human like Clow, nor would he ever be seen the same way as Kerberos, and right now, the idea of that unknown chasm, that gap between human and doll, man and construct, seemed vast and terrifying, filled with people who saw him as an object for their use or pleasure, filled with those who would treat him as a child no matter how old he grew...he wondered, though, if maybe this was how Clow had felt about himself. His mother Chinese, his father white, looking a mix of the two. Slurs hurled at him in London, snubbed looks of half-blood in Hong Kong...did Clow ever feel as Yue did now? Perhaps without the sick stomachache, without the burning feeling where he had been touched against his wishes, but the swimming feeling, of belonging between two worlds...

Clow seemed to have carved his own place, and his own identity. Perhaps, if Yue was to face so much opposition from both his facets, he too, would carve his own place.


End file.
